kansas city yacht frankfurt

Kansas City Chiefs sailing into Germany with massive ‘ChampionShip’

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The Kansas City Chiefs unveil massive plans to take the feel of GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium to Frankfurt Germany next month.

The organization says it plans to recreate elements of Arrowhead and other experiences fans in Kansas City enjoy on the “Championship.” The massive yacht will be floating in Frankfurt’s Main River ahead of the Chiefs-Dolphins game on Sunday, Nov. 5.

The “ChampionShip” is a custom-wrapped Chiefs-themed boat. It is named in honor of the Chief’s three Super Bowl titles.

The Chiefs said the boat will serve as the central hub for Chiefs fans leading up to the game, hosting private VIP events and a Season Ticket Member rally throughout the weekend.

ALSO READ: Patrick Mahomes arrives at work carrying something special in clear briefcase

The ChampionShip will be open to the public Friday, Nov. 3 and Saturday, Nov. 4. It includes the following photo opportunities:

• Fans will be able to hold up a Chiefs jersey for a photo
• Fans can have a photo taken hauling in a jump-ball pass
• Tour a replica locker room designed like those at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Fans can also put on shoulder pads and helmets
• Step up to the podium in front of a branded backdrop, like fans are taking questions from the media
• Fans can get their pictures taken with the club’s Super Bowl LVII Lombardi Trophy, which is making the trip from Kansas City to Frankfurt for the game
• Finally get the experience with a photo opportunity from the boat’s rooftop featuring the Frankfurt skyline

The Chiefs will bring memorabilia to Frankfurt and plan to set up a mini-Chiefs Hall of Honor inside the ChampionShip for fans to learn more about the franchise and the NFL.

ALSO READ: Kansas City homes Taylor Swift should buy, according to experts

The ChampionShip will also host a watch party on gameday. Anyone who wishes to visit the ChampionShip needs to buy a ticket. The Chiefs say tickets go on sale Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 7 a.m. CST. The organization did not release the price of tickets.

The game is not only the Chiefs first regular season game in Germany, but it is also the NFL’s first game in Frankfurt.

Copyright 2023 KCTV. All rights reserved.

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FRANKFURT, Germany—You can tell the sign of a great team. A great team plays what might be another one and the great team wins and does some outstanding things, but the great team just doesn’t feel it.

On the field after Kansas City 21, Miami 14, the best player on this team, Patrick Mahomes , praised the defense to the skies—deservedly—and then said to me on-camera for “Football Night in America,” with certainty: “We’re gonna get this offense figured out, I promise you, and we’ll be a hard team to beat.”

Afterward, in the locker room, I stopped to see Mahomes. He’s the kind of guy—normal dude, but driven like few others—you want leading your team. Clearly he was happy beating Miami, but he knew it was a credit to the defense, not his side of the ball. It ticked him off, but he’s got the kind of confidence in himself, like Tom Brady had, that he knows he’ll fix it. He just does. Fifteen minutes earlier he’d said virtually the same thing to me out on the loud German pitch, but he said it again, with conviction, almost to convince me: “Believe me—we will figure out this offense. No doubt in my mind.”

Odd, then, across the locker room, to hear Travis Kelce say, “I really think this is probably the most complete team we’ve ever had.” Bravado talk, you’d think, after a desultory loss in Denver last week and then, 5,500 miles away, a big win with not much help from one of the great offenses of the century.

That’s because the Kansas City defense won this game Sunday, and there’s not many times you’ve been able to say that about this franchise since Mahomes took over for good in 2018. The defense won it when cornerback Trent McDuffie , safety Mike Edwards and safety Bryan Cook combined for one of the weirdest, and biggest, plays of this NFL season. It happened in the first NFL game ever in a 98-year-old stadium that’s hosted two World Cups and some of the biggest futbol games in the history of a soccer-crazy country. Jaws dropped among the 50,023 desperadoes who’d come from Missouri and Miami and Madrid and Munich to see Mahomes v. Tua, Reid v. McDaniel, Tyreek v. Kelce … and instead watched as the game turned on McDuffie deftly punching the ball out from the most dangerous player on the field, Tyreek Hill. I’m not equating McDuffie to Messi, but the roar from the crowd when it happened had to be at a decibel level akin to what it might have been on a bicycle-kick goal by Lionel Messi .

“Never seen anything like that,” one Irish journalist said to me in the KC locker room afterward.

“Neither have I,” I said.

Festive Saturday night in central Frankfurt, which is divided by the River Main. The Chiefs procured a 250-foot luxury three-deck yacht, wrapped it in red and christened it “ChampionShip,” as a beacon for the tons of KC fans in town for the game—or local fans who wanted to see and touch NFL things, like the franchise’s Super Bowl trophies. The franchise has invested a reported $3 million to build a German market.

On the ship Saturday night, owner Clark Hunt and commissioner Roger Goodell mingled with fans and corporate types. “We don’t want to wait another eight years to play overseas,” club president Mark Donovan told me on the ship. In an ideal world, KC would be a road team so it wouldn’t have to give up a home game, but no foe would want to give up a home game with Patrick Mahomes on the field, so the team might have to come over again in a year when it has nine home games. Donovan said the franchise looks at international games as a long-term play. “On a P and L basis, this doesn’t make sense in the short-term,” he said. “When we look at what we’re doing today, the true benefits will be 30 years down the road.”

But it helps to win, of course, and Kansas City is an immensely popular team here right now. The team arrived Friday morning after an overnight flight from Kansas City and had a light late afternoon practice that was mobbed by German and European media at the German national soccer team’s training facility near Deutsche Bank Park. At the post-practice news conference, 31 video cameras and about 125 reporters showed up—beating the crowd that came to see Tom Brady and the Bucs in Munich 51 weeks earlier. The highlight came when a female reporter asked Travis Kelce about the status of his current relationship with Taylor Swift, and whether he was in love with her.

Now there’s something I never thought I’d be writing in this column.

“The latest status is I got to see her last week,” Kelce said, trying to make the topic disappear.

“Are you in love?” the reporter said.

“I’m gonna keep my personal relationship personal,” he said, courteously.

Friday night, coach Andy Reid went to dinner with his wife Tammy in the city. He told his security guy he didn’t need an escort. But the security guy went. When they walked into the restaurant, Reid looked around. All red. “All our fans,” he said. “Amazing.”

During the week, the city was awash in red, and Kansas City fans outnumbered Miami maybe 80-20. On gameday, when the PA announcer said, “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome head coach Mike McDaniel and the Miami Dolphins,” the reaction was cacophonous.

“Boooooooooooo!”

And at the end of the U.S. National Anthem, as is the Arrowhead custom, the singer was drowned out when she sang, “The land of the free, and the home … of the …

“CHIEEEEEEEEEEEEEFFFFS!”

“Electric the whole game,” said KC’s Edwards . “Felt like a playoff game. Whole Germany is crazy.”

“It felt like we picked up Arrowhead and dropped it over here in Frankfurt,” receiver Justin Watson said. That is precisely what Clark Hunt and Mark Donovan want to build here.

Watson was part of an explosive first drive, seeming to finish it with a diving TD catch just 2:52 in. When it was ruled a trap on replay review, Mahomes took five extra seconds to score for real, on an 11-yard throw to a darting rookie, Rashee Rice , up the left seam. Mahomes led a 95-yard drive to a score in the second quarter, and KC was getting in gear now.

Now for the crazy play. Forty-seven seconds left in the half, and Tua Tagovailoa threw a swing pass to get Tyreek Hill open in space to the left. A lovely looking play, except no one blocked the cornerback, McDuffie. It was a strange tackle—McDuffie had his arms around Hill’s legs near the knees and still found a way to punch the ball out of Hill’s grasp at the KC 38-yard line. “When I made the hit, tried my best to strip it out,” McDuffie said. Edwards picked it up at the 37 and made it upfield four yards as Hill aggressively tackled him, turning him around in the process. Before going down, Edwards shovel-passed it to safety Bryan Cook , the 2022 second-rounder from Cincinnati. And he was off for a 59-yard TD down the right sideline.

“McDuffie’s relentless,” Andy Reid said of his 2022 first-round corner. “Quick, strong, tough. I mean tough. A lot like our defense. Lots of very young guys, tough and fast. Last year, our secondary was kind of watching and hesitant. We strengthened our linebackers a bit this year. Now the young guys have kind of taken over on defense.”

The Dolphins could easily have climbed back to 14-7 by halftime right there, with the first possession of the second half theirs. Instead it was 21-0 at the half. And Miami punted on its first drive of the second half.

It was setting up for a KC rout, but Mahomes got nothing done in a flat second half. Miami got two TDs in the last five minutes of the third quarter, and Miami had a good chance to tie it in the final 70 seconds. With a third-and-10 at the KC 31-yard line and 67 seconds left, Tua Tagovailoa threw a deep ball 10 yards short to an open Cedrick Wilson down the left side. Tagovailoa blamed himself for a miscommunication, and that may be true; in any case, the ball looked awful, way short and way left in a crucial situation.

On fourth down, Tagovailoa was in shotgun. The snap from center Connor Williams was just off to the right, but certainly not uncatchable. It went right through Tagovailoa’s hands. Terrible pass on third down. Brain fart on fourth down. Not exactly how the pilot of the best offense wants to end a vital game that might—might—determine AFC home-field. “I’ve got to catch that ball,” Tua said. “Can’t end a game like that against a really good team.” Miami’s 0-3 against said good teams this year.

When the game was over, Reid and offensive coordinator Matt Nagy were alone in Reid’s office for 17 minutes. Clearly, nine points last week in Denver and 14 offensive points this week is not good enough. We got used to seeing Kansas City’s offense score 23 points in a half; now it’s a streak of four halves with 23 total. Here’s what I saw Sunday: narrow separation with receivers and a good Miami secondary. That’s got to change—either by an increased usage of motion by quick guys like Rashee Rice and Kadarius Toney, or maybe by expanding the use of big-time sparkplug Isaiah Pacheco, who runs very, very angry. I kept thinking Sunday: I wonder what would result if Pacheco was split out more, maybe even to run the kind of orbit motion Tyreek Hill has made so dangerous in Miami.

As KC heads into its bye (Philly comes to Arrowhead two Mondays from today), Reid seemed pensive when I met him in his office for a few minutes post-game.

“I do have faith in our guys, yeah,” Reid said. “We’re a little bit like the defense was last year in that we’re young in some spots. But we’re getting better. [Rashee Rice] is getting better every week and so we just gotta keep coming. If they’re gonna double Kelce, these other guys have to step up. [Justin] Watson, who’s not a rookie, he’s getting better in the offense. Skyy Moore made plays today. We know what we can be.”

Time’s of the essence. Kansas City’s 7-2, atop the AFC with Baltimore; the 6-2 Jags are a bye week behind. It was a good weekend for the franchise in Frankfurt. Now the business shifts back to all football down the stretch. Mahomes’ receivers must rise closer to his level. They’ve got to find a way to separate, starting against James Bradberry and Darius Slay two weeks from tonight. Luckily for the team, there’s a top-five to seven defense in place to help, finally.

Read more in Peter King’s full Football Morning in America column.

‘ChampionShip’ Chiefs-themed yacht to anchor team’s fan activities in Frankfurt, Germany

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Auf geht's, Chiefs! Gewinnt einen weiteren Super Bowl.

One month before the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs play the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Nov. 5, in Frankfurt, Germany, the club announced plans to dock the “ChampionShip” near a famed landmark.

The ChampionShip — a custom-wrapped, Chiefs-themed yacht — will make its way to Frankfurt from Arnhem, Belgium, with plans to dock it on the banks of the Main River near Frankfurt’s Eiserner Steg, or Iron Footbridge, on Nov. 1.

The boat — which is 76 meters long, 10 meters wide and can carry up to 500 people — will serve as the “central hub of activity and entertainment throughout the club’s stay in Germany,” the team said in a release.

The boat will be open to the public Nov. 3-4. It will also host private VIP events and a rally for season-ticket members throughout the weekend, culminating with a game-day watch party.

Tickets will go on sale at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 17, for some of those team activations.

“With just one month to go before we play the Dolphins in Frankfurt, the excitement inside our building and throughout the fanbase couldn’t be higher,” Chiefs President Mark Donovan said in a statement. “We believe the fans of Chiefs Kingdom are the best in the world. Their commitment to our team is relentless, and their sense of community is unmatched. We have the opportunity to share these values with the people of Frankfurt, throughout the DACH region and on the international stage next month. We look forward to welcoming all fans to experience the history and traditions of the club while sharing in the excitement, passion and joy that exists within Chiefs Kingdom.”

Fans aboard the ChampionShip will have an NFL Draft-style photo opp with a Chiefs jersey and a photo opp catching a pass in addition to replicas of player lockers and the press-conference podium experience.

The team also plans to take the Lombardi Trophy for winning Super Bowl LVII, giving fans a chance to snap a pic with the hardware.

The Chiefs also will have a mini Hall of Honor set up on the boat.

For those unable to get tickets, there will be free activities and specialized merchandise available only in-person on the dock near the boat.

Two Chiefs Ring of Honor inductees, running back Christian Okoye and wide receiver Dante Hall, will participate in the ChampionShip hoopla.

Okoye played in the American Bowl, an exhibition between the Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams, during the preseason in 1990, while Hall played one season for the Scottish Claymores of NFL Europe in 2001.

The Chiefs Cheerleaders, KC Wolf and other Chiefs Legends will take part in community events, including a visit to RTL Kinderhaus (Children’s House), and events for military families through the USO Kaiserslautern.

Kansas City is one of a handful of NFL teams with marketing rights in Germany. The Chiefs also have marketing rights in Mexico, Austria and Switzerland.

This will be the franchise’s third regular-season game overseas, including a 45-10 win against Detroit in London in 2015 and a 24-17 win against the Los Angeles Chargers in Mexico City in 2019.

The Chiefs also played four international preseason games — Germany in 1990, Tokyo in 1994 and 1998 and Mexico in 1996.

Kansas City versus Miami will be the first NFL game played in Frankfurt.

[Editor’s note: The opening sentence says “Let’s go, Chiefs! Win another Super Bowl!” in German for those wondering.]

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Arrowheadlines: Chiefs land in Frankfurt ready to play at ‘Eurohead’

Chiefs headlines for Friday, October 3

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WE LANDED IN FRANKFURT!! Touched down at 3:45am (CST). #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/peOE6bj3mI — Chiefs Radio Network (@ChiefsRadioNet) November 3, 2023

We’re just outside Waldstadion - Deutsche Bank Park - this morning. Feel free to call it Eurohead. pic.twitter.com/DZSKdRbaY4 — Mick Shaffer (@mickshaffer) November 2, 2023

What makes Travis Kelce the NFL’s best tight end | The Athletic

One of Kelce’s touchdowns this season happened because he improvised his route. Near the goal line, the Chiefs started their third-and-goal play against the Chicago Bears with Kelce in a bunch formation next to tight end Noah Gray and receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling. When Kelce heard the play call from Mahomes, his assignment was to run a corner route to the back pylon. But just before the ball was snapped, Kelce anticipated and visualized himself ending the play in the back of the end zone near the goal post. The Bears were in zone coverage, matching Kelce with safety Elijah Hicks. Kelce started his route running directly at Hicks, making the defender commit to covering the perimeter of the end zone. But after planting his right foot, Kelce ran a corner-post route, double move to create plenty of space for him to get open. “In practice, where we were thinking about making a call for that, when we get that look for him to (change his route),” Mahomes said of Kelce. “I remember I was telling the coaches, ‘I mean, I don’t know why we need a call; he’s going to do it anyways.’ So of course he does it and it’s a touchdown.”

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Kansas City to Frankfurt, Germany | Chiefs Kingdom Fans | The Mothership

Those brief interactions served as a primer for what took place the next day, as more than 100 passionate German fans – each of whom was clad in red from head to toe – joined us for a rooftop party in downtown Frankfurt. The event was coined a “Schedule Release Party,” but think of it as a slice of the Chiefs Kingdom experience dropped right into the middle of Germany. It included numerous activations, from four replica lockers to some assorted games, but the main event was our stage show with Dante Hall, our Cheerleaders and two representatives from the Chiefs’ business staff. I had the honor of hosting the event, and to be completely honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect. This was my first venture representing the Chiefs abroad, but in short, I was completely and utterly blown away. Not only were the fans in attendance engaged and fired up throughout the presentation, but it was abundantly clear that our efforts made them feel seen and special.

Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill says Chiefs ‘going to get this work’ | ESPN

Hill spent the first six years of his career with the Chiefs before he was traded to the Dolphins last offseason and faces his former team for the first time Sunday. The game will be played in Frankfurt, Germany, instead of the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium, but Hill said the location of the game isn’t as important as the result. “It doesn’t really matter where we play at,” he smiled. “I mean, obviously it would’ve been great to play in K.C., but it really doesn’t matter where we play at, you feel me? They going to get this work wherever though.”

2024 NFL Free Agency: Early Big Board Post-Trade Deadline into Second Half of Season | Bleacher Report

11. L’Jarius Sneed, CB, Kansas City Chiefs If you haven’t been paying attention, the Kansas City Chiefs are a defensive team now. Yes, Patrick Mahomes is still playing, but if Kansas City makes a deep postseason run, it’ll be thanks to a defense that ranks fourth overall and second in points allowed. Cornerback L’Jarius Sneed has played a huge role in Kansas City’s defensive transformation. A 2020 fourth-round pick out of Louisiana Tech, Sneed has developed into one of the better cover corners in the NFL. Last season, Sneed recorded a career-high 11 passes defended, three interceptions and 108 tackles en route to his first Super Bowl victory. So far this season, he’s allowing an opposing passer rating of just 57.9 in coverage. The Los Angeles Chargers should be eager to get under the salary cap and make a run at Sneed. It never hurts to weaken a division rival, and L.A.’s pass defense has been virtually nonexistent for much of the season. Chicago should also covet the Sneed, who will turn 27 in January. The Bears will still be rebuilding in 2024—with or without Justin Fields—they need young defensive centerpieces, and they lead the NFL in projected cap space. Potential Suitors: Chicago Bears, Los Angeles Chargers

Around the NFL

Raiders’ Adams on firings — ‘It was time for some sort of change’ | ESPN

From warming up to the musical stylings of seminal rap group N.W.A.’s “Straight Outta Compton” to All-Pro receiver Davante Adams taking running back Ameer Abdullah to school in the locker room’s new mini-basketball hoop to offensive linemen wrestling each other WWE style to even, yes, a new starting quarterback in rookie Aidan O’Connell, it was a new day. All less than 48 hours after the Raiders fired Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler as coach and general manager, respectively, and replaced them with Pierce and Champ Kelly. “Don’t get it confused,” Adams cautioned. “It’s not a celebration that we have a new coach and there’s been changes made. We, obviously, think it was time, one way or the other, it was time for some sort of change. Just to bring a little juice in and revitalize the team a little bit. So, I think that’s kind of the mindset we’re having, just trying to have fun and enjoy our time in this building because I think as we speak to each other, it’s been too much of, this has just been feeling like work too much and not having enough fun.” Adams went on to thank McDaniels and Ziegler for trading for him. “As I’ve said countless times, I want to be a Raider,” Adams added. “So I want to try to make this work and do everything I can to keep it going now.”

Steelers vs. Titans score, takeaways: Kenny Pickett, strong run game fuel Pittsburgh’s latest comeback win | CBS Sports

How the Steelers won Once again, Pittsburgh rallied from behind to win a game it trailed in for large stretches. The Steelers’ five comeback wins this season are the most in franchise history through eight games since the 1997 team that got within a game of the Super Bowl. Pickett engineered his seventh game-winning drive in either the fourth quarter or overtime since the start of the 2022 season, the second-most such drives in the NFL over that span (only Kirk Cousins has more). Pickett did so by spreading the ball around while also leaning on his rapport with Johnson, who led both teams with 90 yards on seven catches. While the Steelers’ rallying wasn’t new, Pittsburgh received a resurgence from their running game. With rookie Broderick Jones making his first start at right tackle, Harris and fellow running back Jaylen Warren ran for a combined 156 yards on 27 carries.

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Chiefs’ News: Mecole Hardman did ‘right thing’ on key punt vs. Broncos

On Thursday, Hardman’s coordinator, Dave Toub, essentially said, n ot so fast! He thought Hardman’s decision-making process on the play was correct. “I’ve talked about this a lot of times,” started Toub. “With punters today, they can put the ball on the 1. They hit it at the 5, and they can put it on the 1. In his case, if you looked at the tape and saw that situation, he did the right thing trying to field the football. It was wide open. There was nobody there. He’s just got to do the routine things routinely, which is catch the football. “Keep his elbows tight, and take care of fundamentals — and we would have been fine. We get the ball possessed, and he probably could have had 10-15 yards on the play. That’s what you want to do there.” To Toub, it is more than just the yard line that factors into whether or not Hardman should have caught the ball. In addition to that, at the time, the Chiefs were only seven plays removed from a 50-yard Hardman return setting up the Chiefs’ put-away touchdown.

A tweet to make you think

#ChiefsKingdom is taking over Frankfurt pic.twitter.com/BJC4YH0CvD — Brad Symcox (@BritChiefUK) November 2, 2023

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The Chiefs Will Show Up In Germany Next Month With A Yacht

The Kansas City Chiefs will venture to the land of schnitzel, lederhosen, and Kraftwerk next month for a game against the Miami Dolphins in Frankfurt, Germany. While you may think of Dolphins being more at home in the water, it's the Chiefs who will be making the biggest splash by bringing a yacht.

The team announced that it plans to show up in Germany with a custom-wrapped yacht, appropriately named the ChampionShip.

Frankfurt in November doesn't seem like the best time or place to catch some rays up on the top deck, but dammit, you've got to think Gracie Hunt might still try.

The Chiefs plan to dock that bad boy near the city's Eiserner Steg, or Iron Footbridge, which traverses the Main River. It will be open to the public, so any Chiefs fans or maritime enthusiasts can check her out on November 3 and 4. You'll need a ticket though, and those go on sale on October 17.

There will be plenty of activities onboard, but they're infinitely more wholesome than the time the Vikings got a team boat .

This includes plenty of photo ops. Fans can get a picture of themselves holding up a Chiefs jersey like they've just been drafted or take a picture that looks like they're catching a pass from Patrick Mahomes. Several Lombardi Trophies will be on display, as will some replica Chiefs lockers. I would assume the Lombardi Trophy line will be longer, but maybe the lockers are pretty cool.

The Chiefs and Dolphins will play at Deutsche Bank Parl on November 9.

Follow on X: @Matt_Reigle

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NFL back in Germany and ready to grasp ‘massive opportunity to pick up fans’

• Chiefs v Dolphins and Patriots v Colts play in Frankfurt
• Kansas City bringing yacht and Lombardi trophy

The NFL is hoping to capitalise on huge interest in Germany when it takes games there again for a second season, with the Kansas City taking on the Miami on Sunday with New England playingb Indianapolis the following weekend.Both fixtures are in Frankfurt.

The success of Tampa Bay v Seattle in Munich last year has heightened the anticipation among organisers that they can win over yet more fans in an untapped market. German NFL fans number in the millions – a barely tapped goldmine for teams and a league that has mostly maxed out domestically. The league says it has 18 million casual fans – that would be roughly one in five residents in Germany – and 3.6m “avid” ones.

“Most Germans don’t have a team yet,” said Alexander Steinforth, the NFL’s general manager for Germany. “We are reaching that state of maturity where you see fans are actively seeking out teams and are looking for teams that they can follow. That’s why the market is so exciting for franchises to be active in because they have a massive opportunity to pick up fans.”

The Chiefs and Patriots have commercial rights in Germany under the league’s global markets programme, as do Tampa Bay, Carolina and Atlanta. It means they can sign corporate sponsorship deals, hold events to attract fans and sell merchandise just as they do in their home markets.

For Kansas City, life is good. They are the defending Super Bowl champions and, with a 6-2 record, sit atop the AFC West. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes is the reigning MVP. Travis Kelce is having another big season and is attracting lots of attention as he appears to be in a relationship with Taylor Swift, which only adds to the buzz .

“It’s perfect timing for us as a franchise and we’re going to be very aggressive in taking full advantage of that,” the Chiefs president, Mark Donovan, said. The Chiefs have spent $1m (£820,000) in preparation and fan events for Frankfurt.

The team is docking a Chiefs-themed yacht in the Main river for fans who can have a selfie with the Lombardi trophy. The Chiefs and Patriots wanted last year’s first regular-season game in Munich, but that went to the Bucs and Tom Brady because NFC teams had the extra home game.

The Bucs beat Seattle at Allianz Arena in what Steinforth said was the NFL’s “most successful international game” in terms of viewership and merchandise sales. He added that German viewership this season on the free-to-air broadcaster RTL is up “nine to 10%” from a year ago.

Though five teams are in the market, the Chiefs and Patriots “have been the most aggressive and probably have the most foothold,” Donovan said. New England has some advantages, he added, “because they’ve been there longer and they have some German players and German radio and things like that. We definitely want to be No 1 in Germany.”

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New England had a surge of interest after selecting the German offensive lineman Sebastian Vollmer in 2009. They began pushing German content into the country. The Super Bowl titles kept coming, all coinciding with NFL games airing weekly on free TV network ProSieben. The league switched to the bigger RTL this season.

“I would say we are the No 1 [team] or we have been for many, many years, but we’re running up against the Kansas City Chiefs , who are doing really well right now and their popularity is soaring,” said Joe Dorant, the team’s senior director of business development for the region.

All six of New England’s Lombardi trophies will be on display for fans and photos at “Patriots Haus” downtown and alumni will be greeting the locals. But competing with Taylor Swift? “I don’t think we can,” Dorant said. “The only thing we can do is show the German people what the Patriot way is. We’ve been successful for many, many years – for a 20-year span. No other team can say that.”

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The Kansas City Chiefs will play in Germany in two weeks.

The team's custom-wrapped yacht, fondly known as the 'Champion-Ship,' will be docked on the river in Frankfurt.

Tickets are now available for onboard festivities.

Meanwhile, stateside fans have the chance to join a local watch party hosted by J. Rieger, starting at 7:30 a.m., featuring a German-inspired brunch, cocktails, and Chiefs gear.

Reservations are required, with limited seating available.

The Chiefs will play the Miami Dolphins in Frankfurt on November 5, with kickoff set for 8:30 a.m. Kansas City time.

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Chiefs and Patriots compete for fans and influence in Germany ahead of games in Frankfurt

FILE - The Deutsche Bank Park is illuminated on occasion of the invasion in the Ukraine prior to a German Bundesliga soccer match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayern Munich in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. The NFL says there are millions of German fans who are looking for a team to support. The Chiefs go first — they’ll play the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. A week later, the Patriots face the Indianapolis Colts. Both games are at Deutsche Bank Park. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)

FILE - Fans cheer during an NFL football game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Seattle Seahawks at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022. The NFL says there are millions of German fans who are looking for a team to support. The Chiefs go first — they’ll play the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. A week later, the Patriots face the Indianapolis Colts. Both games are at Deutsche Bank Park. (AP Photo/Steve Luciano, File)

FILE - The German and the United States national flags are displayed with an NFL banner over the stands of the Allianz Arena, prior to a NFL match between Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks in Munich, Germany, Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022. The NFL says there are millions of German fans who are looking for a team to support. The Chiefs go first — they’ll play the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. A week later, the Patriots face the Indianapolis Colts. Both games are at Deutsche Bank Park.(AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

FILE - A crowd of fans arrive for an NFL football game between Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022. The NFL says there are millions of German fans who are looking for a team to support. The Chiefs go first — they’ll play the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. A week later, the Patriots face the Indianapolis Colts. Both games are at Deutsche Bank Park. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

FILE - A fan reacts during an NFL football match between Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Nov. 13, 2022. The NFL says there are millions of German fans who are looking for a team to support. The Chiefs go first — they’ll play the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. A week later, the Patriots face the Indianapolis Colts. Both games are at Deutsche Bank Park. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)

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The Patriots have the history. The Chiefs have the juice.

New England is bringing its six Super Bowl trophies. How about a yacht? Kansas City has that, not to mention the star quarterback and tight end.

They’re all headed to Frankfurt to take part in two weeks of American football because beyond the games, there are German fans to win over. A lot of them.

“Most Germans don’t have a team yet,” said Alexander Steinforth, the NFL’s general manager for Germany.

The fandom is in the millions — a barely tapped gold mine for teams and a league that have mostly maxed out domestically. The league says it has 18 million casual fans, or roughly one in five residents of Germany and about 3.6 million “avid” ones.

“We are reaching that state of maturity where you see fans are actively seeking out teams and are looking for teams that they can follow,” Steinforth said. “That’s why the market is so exciting for franchises to be active in because right now they have a massive opportunity to pick up fans.”

The Chiefs go first; they’ll play the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. A week later, the Patriots face the Indianapolis Colts. Both games are at Deutsche Bank Park, the home of German soccer club Eintracht Frankfurt.

The Chiefs and Patriots both have commercial rights in Germany under the league’s global markets program , as do the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons. It means they can sign corporate sponsorship deals, hold events to attract fans and sell merchandise as they do in their home markets.

“This is a home game for us being in Frankfurt and we’ll be utilizing our gameday production,” said Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt, whose team also has rights to Austria, Switzerland and Mexico. “I expect to have a similar feel (to their London game in 2015), but the big difference is we’ve been in Frankfurt for a year and a half doing marketing.”

Life has been pretty good for the Chiefs. They’re the defending Super Bowl champions, quarterback Patrick Mahomes is the reigning MVP, and All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce is having another big season. Oh yeah, Kelce also appears to be in a relationship with global megastar Taylor Swift, which only adds to the buzz every time the Chiefs take the field.

“It’s perfect timing for us as a franchise and we’re going to be very aggressive in taking full advantage of that,” said Chiefs president Mark Donovan, adding the club has spent about $1 million in preparation and fan events for Frankfurt.

Part of that went to the team docking a Chiefs-themed yacht in the Main River for fans to board and get a selfie with the Lombardi trophy, which it won for the third time with its 38-35 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl.

Both the Chiefs and Patriots wanted last year’s first-ever regular-season game in Munich, but that went to the Bucs and Tom Brady, in part because NFC teams had the extra home game. The Bucs beat the Seattle Seahawks 21-16 at Allianz Arena in what Steinforth said was the NFL’s “most-successful international game” in terms of viewership and merchandise sales. He added that German viewership this season on free-to-air broadcaster RTL is up “9 to 10%" from a year ago.

Though five teams are in the market, the Chiefs and Patriots “have been the most aggressive and probably have the most foothold,” Donovan said. New England has some advantages, he added, ”because they’ve been there longer and they have some German players and German radio and things like that.”

New England saw a surge of interest after selecting German offensive lineman Sebastian Vollmer in 2009. They began pushing German content into the country, and for a while the Super Bowl titles kept coming, all coinciding with NFL games airing weekly on free TV network ProSieben. The league switched to the bigger RTL starting this season.

“I would say we are the No. 1 (team) or we have been for many, many years,” said Joe Dorant, the Patriots senior director of business development for the region, “but obviously we’re running up against the Kansas City Chiefs, who are doing really well right now and their popularity is soaring.”

All six of New England’s Lombardi trophies will be on display for fans and photos at “Patriots Haus” downtown and alumni will be greeting the locals.

But competing with Swift?

“I don’t think we can,” Dorant said. “The only thing we can do is show the German people what the Patriot way is. We’ve been successful for many, many years — for a 20-year span. No other team can say that.”

Kansas City already had the fastest-growing Instagram and TikTok engagement in Germany among NFL teams and that was “pre-Taylor,” Donovan said. Among the five teams in the market, the Chiefs have the most Instagram followers on their German account, but the Panthers have the edge on TikTok.

“I don’t know at this point if she’s going to Germany or not,” Donovan said of the 12-time Grammy-winning superstar.

Kelce is sure to face questions about Swift from the locals. After all, Brady was grilled about his personal life after his divorce from supermodel Gisele Bündchen; a TV producer also presented Brady with Bavarian lederhosen .

Who knows what awaits Kelce in Germany.

THE OTHER FOOTBALL

Teams have hired German agencies and advisers to facilitate deals, and the Chiefs’ sponsorship agreements include fast food and pet food. But they didn’t need help figuring out they can gain visibility through Germany’s top sport: soccer.

Bundesliga champion Bayern Munich has more than 40 million Instagram followers, whereas the Patriots are tops in the NFL with 5 million. The Chiefs’ German account is just under 46,000.

While the Panthers partnered with Eintracht Frankfurt and New England hosted the German national team in Foxborough, Massachusetts, the Chiefs have linked up with Bayern through the Hunt family-owned FC Dallas.

“My first intro to Germany came in 1974 attending World Cup games in West Germany,” said Hunt, whose franchise is already preparing to host 2026 World Cup games at Arrowhead Stadium. “We’re looking forward to this trip and showcasing the best of Chiefs Kingdom.”

RUN IT BACK?

The Panthers and Falcons would figure to be next in line for a game in Germany. It is slated to host one game next year, which the NFL confirmed Monday will be in Munich, and another one in 2025.

“We would have no issue with playing a game next year and the year after,” the Patriots’ Dorant said.

The Chiefs and Patriots are the designated “home” teams in Frankfurt. The Chiefs are such a big draw that other teams don’t want to give up a visit from them.

“We’d like to be more aggressive in being in the international markets more often,” Donovan said. “Right now, we’d only do it as an away team ideally, or during those years when we have the extra home game.”

It’s widely expected that the NFL will extend its deal in Germany. The league opened an office in Dusseldorf with a capacity for 25 employees.

“That’s the idea, to grow into it,” Steinforth said.

AP Sports Writer Dave Skretta in Kansas City, Missouri, contributed.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Bayern Munich fail in €18m move for Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner

Bayern Munich have failed in an attempt to hire Crystal Palace head coach Oliver Glasner as Thomas Tuchel’s successor.

As first reported by German news outlet Bild, Bayern were proposing an €18 million (£15.5m) compensation package for the 49-year-old but Palace have no interest in letting him leave, valuing him at closer to €100m (£86m).

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It is not known whether Bayern’s interest was registered through an intermediary but Palace have denied any contact or talks with the German club.

Glasner — who won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022 — has accepted Palace’s decision and Bayern have moved on to other targets.

Bayern declined to comment when approached by The Athletic .

Glasner has made an immediate impact since arriving at Selhurst Park following the departure of former head coach Roy Hodgson.

The Austrian signed a three-year contract in February and has led the club to victories over Liverpool , Newcastle United and Manchester United since then.

Saturday’s 3-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers was the club’s fifth in their last six Premier League outings.

Only Manchester City and league leaders Arsenal have amassed more points than Crystal Palace since Glasner’s first game at the helm.

Bayern’s failure to appoint Glasner is the latest in a long list of unsuccessful attempts to name Tuchel’s successor after it was announced he would step down at the end of the season.

The making of Oliver Glasner: The 'normal one' who defied death and became a champion

Xabi Alonso was of interest until he announced he would remain at Bayer Leverkusen after leading the club to their first Bundesliga title.

Julian Nagelsmann — who was sacked by Bayern in February last year — was linked with a return but opted to extend his contract with the German national team.

The Athletic reported in March that Aston Villa manager Unai Emery was of interest , too, but the Spaniard opted to remain in England and extend his contract with the Premier League club through to 2027.

Former Manchester United interim head coach Ralf Rangnick was close to agreeing terms but eventually declined the opportunity to focus on leading Austria at this summer’s European Championship .

As previously reported by The Athletic , the 32-time German league champions began talks with the club’s former head coach Hansi Flick last week.

Additional reporting: Sebastian Stafford-Bloor

(Photo by Andrew Kearns – CameraSport via Getty Images)

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